And we are off!

So. Day 1 of the big adventure. I had not expected the lead up to be quite so busy. The week before - a trip to London for visas, hair cut, medication and cheeky drinks; a big birthday celebration for A; GR in hospital (thankfully home and Al ist fully recovered) and someone driving into our car. So as we set off for the airport we were both pretty shattered. The 45 minute flight to Amsterdam was hardly long enough to drink my Sav Blanc Chardonnay (if there is such a thing) before landing.
We got the 197 from outside the airport and if dropped us up a hop, skip and a stagger to our hotel - Boutique View ( though I have yet to see it from our window). Great 60's style chair though with a spray painted picture of two hands holding a saxophone on the wall. We ventured out for a couple of hours to explore and find a few bars. We headed back, having been beaten by the excitement and emotions of the day, only to find the Maldon Ukelele Orchestra, practising on the breakfast room/cafe of our hotel - the room right about ours! For once we were disappointed by the excellent soundproofing - who doesn't love the sound of a Ukelele to help them get off to sleep?! Next time more about Amsterdam. L&S 

Not long now

 I must confess that when I finished work at the end of July, I imagined I would have plenty of time to relax and 'potter' and that it would be a simple case of booking some accommodation and getting a few visas. The reality is there is a huge amount to organise when you go away for a long period of time and getting visas is not as straight forward as you think, particularly when you need more than 1. 

 So with just 9 days left to go,  our last two visa's are almost sorted, we are awaiting delivery of our last few purchases, including a bottle opener - a crucial piece of equipment for travel and we have sorted out our mobile phone contracts so we don't run up huge bills. Flights/trains and accommodation are all booked through to Hanoi but after that - well who knows.So, with all that sorted, Mr L has finally decided to go back to work for a few days whilst I finish off the paperwork. 

The trip to Canada with the family was fab and afforded us a great opportunity to test out the backpacks (Osprey 40L for those who are interested) and we managed to keep the weight to under 10kgs, which is impressive for a three week holiday. However the biggest challenge to our 'hand luggage only' plan is the liquid allowance.  It's not a problem getting liquids into containers under 100ml but there are just so many of them!  However, how can I be certain that Mongolia will have my preferred moisturiser/shampoo/conditioner? I realise there has to be compromises but really - going without these essential items is a step too far!  So, for the first few legs of our journey the backpacks will be going in the hold and I shall breath a sigh of relief.

So, to refresh you all on our plans - we set off on Wednesday 28th September starting with a two day stop in Amsterdam (because our flight went via Amsterdam and well why not) then onto Moscow where we will stay for 4 days before boarding the Trans-Siberian Railway. We have planned 5 stops along the way varying from 1-4 days. We had originally planned to go all the way to Beijing however, the cost of the visa was nearly £200 each and as we had not planned on staying in Beijing we decided to alight the train at Ulan Bator  and fly to Hong Kong from there.  We shall be staying in HK for 4 nights and then fly on to Hanoi. Our plans thereafter are non-existent but at some point we will fly from Singapore to Bali, from Bali to Australia, then onto New Zealand and finally (or perhaps not) to Japan.

You are very welcome to join us on our journey via this blog. I will try to make it interesting/informative and possibly even funny.  The adventure begins next week so hopefully you will join us then. L&S